The regular meeting of the Utah Transportation Commission, held at the UDOT Rampton Complex – Large Conference Room, 4501 South 2700 West, Salt Lake City, Utah, was called to order at 8:35 a.m. by Chairman J. Stuart Adams. He welcomed those attending.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Commissioner Holbrook moved to approve the minutes of the October 22, 2008, Staff Update Meeting and Commission Meeting held in Salt Lake City, and the October 30, 2008, Special Commission Meeting held in Salt Lake City. Commissioner Millington seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Al Schellenberg from Geneva Rock and representing the Associated General Contractors (AGC), discussed a meeting that was held a couple of days ago with key leaders regarding UDOT’s decision to stop progress on all projects not under contract. He said the timing and severity of the announcement has caused some concern in the industry, as they are facing big decisions and layoffs. They understand the budget constraints and the concerns about the economy. Mr. Schellenberg had four suggestions that the AGC would like to have considered: 1. Identify the highest priority projects and allow them to continue, rather than stopping everything. 2. Consider other creative ideas to help keep work moving forward, such as splitting larger projects into smaller projects. 3. Take the I-15 project in Utah County and push it back some, taking the pressure off the total dollars to be allocated. 4. The AGC will support and push for a 10-cent gas tax increase that would be indexed, during the 2009 Legislative Session.

UDOT SCOREBOARD

Tracy Conti, Engineer for Operations, gave an update on the fatality reports. He provided a handout and discussed motorcycle fatalities for the year and cumulative fatalities per 100 million VMT. He noted that this is the latest in the year that they’ve been under one fatality per 100 million VMT. Jim McMinimee, Project Development Director, distributed handouts and reported on the status of construction projects and design projects. He also gave a report on advertised projects and information tracked on project delivery, project backlog, and cash flow.

STATE INFRASTRUCTURE BANK

St. George City Loan Request

Ahmad Jaber, Director of Systems Planning and Programming, distributed two handouts and discussed the background of the project and the request being made today. He referred to the map and said in the area of the new St. George Airport, the Southern Parkway, and the Desert Canyons development, there are two interchanges, shown as #6 and #7, which will impact about 1500 acres. The second handout includes information on the loan itself. The loan request from St. George City would be for $2.7 million to come from the SIB. There would also be $1 million that would come from phase two of the Southern Parkway project, for a total of $3.7 million. Loan repayments for the entire amount would go back into the State Infrastructure Bank. Also, because this project has a direct benefit to a State highway system, it would be exempt from the 25% SIB loan limit, according to the SIB guidelines. Carlos Braceras, Deputy Director, added that if the Commission approves this request, the parkway would end up with interchanges instead of intersections, and after five years, the SIB would be capitalized at the $3.7 million level, plus interest.

Larry Bullock from St. George City commented that this reflects the commitment of the city and the property owners of the area to get a quality project done, and the immediate purpose would be to get access to the replacement airport. Mr. Gordon from Desert Canyons Development also commented on the project and talked about the repayment of the loan. Commissioner Lewis expressed appreciation to St. George City and the developer for stepping up to provide the kind of facility needed for the people in that area.

Commissioner Lewis moved to approve the authorization of loaning $2.7 million from the State Infrastructure Bank, as well as $1 million from the Southern Parkway, to St. George City, as discussed. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Millington and unanimously approved.

UDOT BUDGET UPDATE

Executive Director John Njord stated that it appears that the state is going to be in a deficit situation, and in anticipation of that situation, UDOT proactively moved to freeze a number of contracts in order to not create an even larger deficit in the general fund. The State of Utah has a constitutional requirement to balance their budget, and UDOT’s decision to hold a number of projects was to enable legislators to make adjustments and balance the budget, to ensure they’re not spending more revenue than they are generating. There are approximately 50 projects that are on hold. And depending on action by the Legislature, and subsequent action by the Commission, that will determine whether or not the Department proceeds with those projects.

Commissioner Wilson asked about the likelihood of a gas tax increase. Director Njord responded that he thinks it would be difficult for legislators to agree to a gas tax increase. The AGC has said they would be promoting a 10-cent gas tax increase, which would generate revenue of about $140 million per year, but he’s not sure that’s achievable. Commissioner Bodily asked about changing the formula to a sales tax type of gas tax. Director Njord explained that the difficulty with the current gas tax is that it’s a flat tax and it doesn’t grow over time. The challenge with changing it to a percentage is that when gas prices are high, there would be a tremendous windfall, so there would have to be some sort of ceiling or cap that would prevent that from occurring. There could also be reluctance among legislators to do indexing.

Commissioner Bodily asked if the Department would turn to the Commission to bring projects back on line. Director Njord responded that if the legislature decides to take multi-hundreds of millions of dollars from transportation’s budget, what categories would they take it from? And, depending on which ones they take it from, that would determine whether or not UDOT could move forward with projects in other categories. Mr. Braceras added that because of the Commission’s prioritization process, the selection of projects was based on anticipation of a certain amount of revenue. Based on how much money is left and how it comes, the Commission’s priorities may be different, so the Commission would be involved in those discussions.

Al Shellenberg said they needed to be careful that they don’t try and fix all of the state’s shortfalls by taking it from transportation, creating bigger impacts with lots of layoffs and a snowballing effect in the reverse direction. Jim Horrocks from Horrocks Engineers asked about the federal stimulus package. Director Njord said that Utah could be ready to deliver about $11 billion worth of work. That is bigger than any other state’s request. The idea behind the economic stimulus package would be to create jobs, and Utah would create jobs like no other state. Rachel McQuillan, representing URS Corporation and the ACEC Board of Directors, talked about having sufficient engineering resources for a large program and expressed concern about potential layoffs. She said they are here as partners to help do whatever needs to be done to hang on and sustain the workforce in the area so when the time comes, they’re ready for the program. Any support or words of encouragement would be appreciated.

PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

2009 STIP Amendment #3

Coalville Main Street – Move from CD to Funded Year in STIP

Bill Lawrence, Program Finance Director, said that Coalville City is requesting that the Coalville Main Street project be added to the STIP, as it’s currently in CD in an unfunded year. It would be constructed as an advanced construct project. The City is fully aware that they are proceeding at their own risk, given that federal funding beyond the current transportation bill is not guaranteed. Mayor Duane Schmidt of Coalville City said they have jumped through hoops to put this project together. They are optimistic about the $1 million grant from UDOT and understand it may not be there in the future. Cindy Gooch from JUB Engineering commented on the deadlines and timelines that have become an issue, and said this project will be a benefit to the community.

Commissioner Holbrook moved to approve the addition of the Coalville Main Street Beautification project to the FY 2009 STIP. Commissioner Millington seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

2000 West; 1300 North to 2300 North Clinton City Project – Funding Adjustment

Bill Lawrence said that the Wasatch Front Regional Council recently approved a funding request for an additional $592,000 for the 2000 West; 1300 North to 2300 North Clinton City project. The reason for the additional funds is due to increased construction costs, as well as increased fuel and asphalt costs. Commission approval is requested.

Commissioner Millington moved to approve the funding increase for the 2000 West; 1300 North to 2300 North, Clinton City project as described. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Wilson and unanimously approved.

Grand County Enhancement Project – Funding Request

Bill Lawrence said this request is to reprogram the New Spanish Trail, Phase II funding to the North Moab Recreation Trail project. There is currently $1 million in the New Spanish Trail project; the North Moab Recreation Trail project has $625,000. There are insufficient funds in the New Spanish Trail due to retaining walls that would be required, and additional funding is requested to complete the North Moab Recreation Trail. By combining funds, it will allow one of the projects to be completed. Although this is reprogramming of Enhancement money, it’s still on the same trail system, just on the other side. Commissioner Lewis expressed concern about the transfer of Enhancement Funds and wondered about the process. Should it go back to the Enhancement Committee? He said the issue needed to be addressed. This request should be an exception and not set a precedence for the future.

Commissioner Wilson moved to approve the reprogramming of the New Spanish Trail, Phase II project funding of $1 million to the North Moab Recreation Trail project, for a total funding of $1.625 million. Also, in the future, the Enhancement Committee should be consulted for concurrence/consensus, so they are made aware of any changes in applications. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Lewis and unanimously approved.

Bill Lawrence said this request is to transfer $1 million from the US-491; Monticello to MP 7 project, to the US-89; 300 North in Kanab to Kanab Creek Bridge project. This request will allow Region Four to proceed with a $4 million project in Kanab.

Commissioner Millington moved to approve the transfer of $1 million from the US-491; Monticello to MP 7 project to the US-89; 300 North in Kanab to Kanab Creek Bridge project. Commissioner Lewis seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

FY 09 CHNF Funding Adjustments of $35 Million

Ahmad Jaber explained that in the Special Session held in September, the Department was directed to take $35 million from the Critical Highway Needs Fund (CHNF) for FY 09, as well as other reductions in future years. Today they will focus only on the FY 09 CHNF reduction; funding reductions in the TIF for FY 2010 and beyond would be discussed at the April workshop. Mr. Jaber reviewed the prioritization process for the CHNF and then referred to the handout showing the list of projects for major capacity improvements on new facilities. He said the lowest ranked project on that list is the Vineyard Connector, which has $200 million of CHNF funds. The Department recommends that the $35 million be taken from the Vineyard Connector project, as they feel they may still be able to build the project for $165 million.

Commissioner Millington moved to approve the reduction of the CHNF, as directed by the Legislature, by $35 million, and that the reduction come out of the Vineyard Connector project in Utah County. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Wilson and approved, with one dissenting vote by Commissioner Brown.

RESOLUTION

Governance of the Use of Electronic Meetings

Carlos Braceras mentioned that a special Commission meeting was needed last month, but they couldn’t do a conference call as originally intended due to a change in the open meeting law made in 2006 requiring the Commission to adopt a resolution, rule or ordinance governing the use of electronic meetings. This resolution will allow the Commission to convene and conduct electronic meetings in the future. Mr. Braceras further reviewed various details of the resolution.

Commissioner Millington moved to approve the resolution regarding the governance of the use of electronic meetings. Commissioner Bodily seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS RULES UPDATE

John Thomas from Systems Planning and Programming provided an update on the Public Private Partnership’s (PPP) and the administrative rules that were effective October 16th. He talked about the steering committee that helped write and develop the administrative rules, of which two are Commission rules, and two are Department rules. He also discussed the connections between the rules. He then talked about a guidebook that was developed to provide an overview of the PPP process, and guidelines that were developed to help when PPP decisions need to be made. He said the next step in the process is to put the administrative rules, the guidelines and the guidebook into a binder and have them ready for distribution around the first of the year.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS/CONDITIONS AND NEEDS REPORT

Motor Carriers

Rick Clasby, Director of Motor Carriers, gave a PowerPoint presentation that included information on their accomplishments port activities, on-line permit system, safety inspections, compliance audits, and new entrant safety audits. He also reviewed immediate needs (2 year time frame) and future priorities (2 to 10 years).

Pat Morley, Director of Aeronautics, gave a PowerPoint presentation that focused on the Utah Continuous Airport System Plan, 2007-2027 estimated development costs by airport classification, state FY 08 projects, airport pavement condition, and current aviation fuel prices. He also gave an update on the “Provo Radar” and the St. George replacement airport.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

11400 South Project Update

Randy Park, Region Two Director, gave an update on the 11400 South project, and said they are in the process of awarding the contract. He also reviewed the impacts the project will have on I-15.

FHWA Report

Betty Bangerter from FHWA reported on four NEPA decisions that were recently accomplished. She also noted that this is the 11th month of decline in driving by Americans, which affects the Highway Trust Fund, which is primarily funded with federal gas tax receipts.

Commission Committee Reports

There were no reports made this month.

Transportation Commission Meetings

The next regular Transportation Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14, 2009, at the UDOT Rampton Complex, 4501 South 2700 West, Salt Lake City, Utah. The March meeting dates were discussed, due to a change in the start and end of the upcoming legislative session, and changed to the following week. The following dates and locations have been scheduled: